Cape Breton Highlands to Louisbourg, NS

Off we went back down the crazy road than rose and curved and dropped and was badly paved in spots and smooth in other places.  Smokey Mountain was the culprit.  We crossed the end of St. Anns Harbor and up the other side, which was a long haul up but great views down the side toward both the east and the west.  We traveled here before on our trip to Newfoundland.  We stopped at the lookovers and reminisced a bit about that trip.

Glassblowing shop along the way

Englishtown harbor

Sea Island Bridge

We drove around Sydney and down to Louisbourg.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but the wind was really howling.  We found our campground and parked and then went out to the Fortress.  That would be the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site.  Founded by the French in 1713, Louisbourg was a fishing center on the trade routes between North America and Europe. This is the largest reconstructed fortified town in North America.  It is an amazing site.  There are costumed interpreters and demonstrations of trades, cooking, etc. as life was almost 300 years ago.

The Fortress was captured by the British in 1745 and they held it for 3 years, when it was returned to the French at the end of the War of the Austrian Sucession.  The British captured it again during the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) and it was destroyed.  In the 1960's and 1970's it was partially rebuilt.  The project gave work to unemployed miners.

It is "shoulder" season and many of the buildings were not yet open.  School groups were everywhere.  It is a great place for kids to explore.

The town of Louisbourg seemed like a ghost town as we drove through it to our campground.  No real grocery stores closer than Sydney, 40 km away.  Many shops and restaurants were closed.  We did find one restaurant open, the Station House, with a very outspoken owner by the name of Marlene.  She told us the tourist trade has been down for years and the locals feel as tho the Fortress (in high season) is
undercutting the local shops by serving food, etc.  However, if you visit the Fortress before July 1, you have to bring your own food or hope the small shop serving drinks, cookies and soup does not run out (of soup, as it did on our visit).  We left the Fortress and went back to the Station House for lunch.  We had gotten a take out dinner there the night before.  Fishing is still important here, but not as big an industry as when the train came to town and the coal mines were flourishing.  The locals are hoping that now the ferry is running again from Portland, ME to Yarmouth, the tourists will return.